Building wall



Dec. 3%, 1923.

D. W. DODSON BUILDING WALL Filed Feb. 20, '1922 Patented Dec. 18, 1923.

TATES DAVID W. DODSON, OF VVICHI'IA, ILANSAS.

BUILDING WALL.

Application filed February 20, 1922. Serial No. 537,701.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, DAVID W. DODSON, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Wichita, county of Sedgwick, State of Kansas, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Building alls, of which thefollowing is a complete specification.

The present invention relates to building construction, and one of theobjects in view is to devise an improved form of wall construction inwhich block sections or units, such as hollow tile sections, may beemployed for the curtain structure and retained in assembled relation bysuitable tie rods threaded through the tile and secured to the corner orintermediate or partition columns.

A further object is to provide a sectional structure of this characterin which the corner or partition columns may likewise be composed ofsuperposed units adapted for retaining engagement with the series of tieconnections used for supporting the assembled curtain structure.

It is a still further object to devise a curtain and column structureboth of sectional type and having the sections of the column structureof hollow formation adapted for the pouring of concrete materialtherein, whereby the wall and columns may be correctly assembled andaccurately alined prior to the pouring of the concrete and thusproviding substantially integral column structures and at the same timeinsuring the correct structural relation of the wall sections in theirfinal completed condition.

lVith these general objects in view, as well as minor objects as willappear in the courseof the detail specification, the invention will nowbe described by reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating oneform of construction which I have devised for embodying theimprovements, after which the novel features therein will be set forthin the appended claims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a portion ofa wall embodying the improved construction, and including portions of acurtain, corner, and intermediate column structures;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the lower sections of the wall,omitting the concrete material and vertical reinforcing rods from thecolumn sections;

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the tile sectionsused in the cur tain structure;

Figure 1 is an elevation of the open side of one of said tile sections;

Figures 5 and 6 are perspective views of one of the corner columnsections and one of the partition or intermediate column sections,respectively; and

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a form of column section for use inconnection with double curtain walls.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, this illustrates the curtainstructure portion of the wall as comprising a plurality of hollow tileblocks or sections 10 arranged in vertical position and in staggeredrelation upon a suitable foundation 12. One side edge of each of theblocks or sections 10 is formed with a tongue 14 closing up that side ofthe block with the exception of tiercd openings 15 adapted for thepassage of a plurality of tie-rods 16 used for securely retaining thecurtain wall structure in as-' sembled relation between the columnstructures, as herein-after described.

The opposite or open side of each tile block or section 10 is formedwith a groove 17, thus enabling the tile blocks or sections to bematched together in the relation shown in Figure 1, with the tongues 14and grooves 17 of adjoining blocks interlocking for firmly bracing thesections of the curtain wall and preventing any tendency of the tilefrom moving in either direction out of the plane of the wall.

Each of the hollow tile blocks or sections- 10 is formed with aplurality of transverse partitions 18 which divide the space within eachtile section into a plurality of horizontal passages 19 communicatingseverally with the openings 15 of that section. These passages 19 rendermore convenient the operation of threading the tie-rods 16 through thetile sections, and for further facilitating this threading operation thesaid passages 19 are each tapered at that end forming the approach tothe corresponding opening 15, as indicated at 20 (see Figures 2 and 4).

For use with the type of curtain structure above described, I have alsodevised a sectional column structure adapted both for corners in thewall and also for either intermediate or partition columns. For use atthe corners of the wall, 1 provide a plurality of hollow column sections22 adapted to be mounted in superposed relation with their hollowinteriors 23 registering (see Figure 2) so that each column structuremay be filled with concrete material 24 by the usual pouring operation,in which connection suitable reinforcing rods 25 may also be used forbracing and strengthening purposes. For engagement with thecorresponding sides of the curtain wall structures, the sev eral cornercolumn sections 22 may be formed with grooves 26 for engagement with thetongues 14 of the tile blocks or sections 10, as shown in Figures 1 and2. In the case of intermediate or partition columns, I employ a set ofhollow column sections 22' adapted to be mounted in superposed relationupon the foundation 12 with the interiors of tne sections in registeredrelation for the filling of the column with reinforced concretematerial, in the same way asthe corner sections, as already described'For retaining engagement with the sides of the curtain structure, thesecolumn sections 22 may be provided with lateral extensions 27 formedwith either grooves 28 or tongues 29 for the reception of the tongues 11 and grooves 17, respectively, of the tile blocks or sections of thecurtain structures between which the column sections 22 are interposed.In the event that the column sections 22 are located at a partitionpoint, the said sections are formed with projections 27 extend inginwardly for engagement with the curtain structure of the partitionwall.

The column sections 22 and 22 are preferably made of the same height asthe tile blocks 10, and the grooves 26 and 28, and the tongues 29 of thecolumn sections 22 are provided with a set of tie-rod openings 32adapted to be brought in register with the openings 15 of the tile atthe sides of the curtain wall, so that the ends of the series oftie-rods 16 may be projected through said-openings 32 into the interiorof the column sections, where the rods are threaded and provided withclamp nuts 34 for the purpose of securely clamping the rods in firmlyanchored position to the interior of the columns. The interior of eachcolumn section is further provided with a set of anchor plates or strips35 through which the ends of the corresponding tie-rods 16 may bethreaded and against which the nuts 34: may be firmly clamped withoutdanger of effecting any damage to the column sections.

The type of column section used is further adapted to be employed inconnection with double curtain wall structures, by simplyprovidingthesection with means for retaining engagement with the sidesof two of such curtain wall structures, as illustrated in Figure 7,where the column section 22' is formed with a pair of extensions 27 atnames? each side of the section, and these extensions assembled withoutthe pouring of" any concrete material until the tile block sections andthe column sections are completely matched up and secured together inupright position upon the foundation 12. The operation of assembling theunits or sections of both the columns and curtain wall will be readilyunderstood, a complete or full-size tile block 10 being matched witheach of the column sections, and half-size tile blocks 10" being alsoemployed in order to produce the staggered arrangement of the tileblocksrepresented in Figures 1 and 2. Prior to the addition of another columnsection, the column section already in position is secured to thetie-rods 16 of the curtain structure which is already in place, by'theapplication of the nuts 3%, as shown in Figure 2. In this connection, itwill be apparent that the operation of threading the rods through thetile blocks and the accuracy of this operation are greatly facilitatedby the formation of the sets of passages 19 and openings 15communicating with the passages 19 by the tapered approaches 20 shown inFigure 2. After the curtain structure and corresponding columns havebeen constructed to the desired height, with the tie-rods 16 binding thesame together, the wall is then ready for the pouring of the columnsections, although forwalls of lighter construction it is possible thateven the addition of the concrete material may be dispensed with and theconstruction still retain sufficient rigidity and firmness for practicalpurposes. However, I prefer, in most cases of heavier construction tofill each of the column structures with'concrete material reinforced bythe wires 25 as illustrated in Figure 1, thus resulting in solid andsubstantially integral column structures, firmly binding the sections ofeach column together and rigidly bracing and securing the curtainstructures in the position into which they have been assembled. The mainfeatures of advantage which are afforded by this type of sectionalconstruction are found in the fact that all parts of the wall, andincluding the columns, may be matched together and the accuracy of thewall and corner outlines preliminarily obtained before the'final settingoperation of the wall, so that the wall is in practically completecondition before any of the concrete material is poured into theinterior of the columns. After this reinforced concrete has been addedto the columns, and allowed to permanently set, the permanent accuracyof the walls alignment and the correct matched relation of the differentparts thereof are thereafter insured, be cause of the efiectiveanchoring function of the solid concrete columns as exerted through itstie connections with the sectional curtain structure. It is wellunderstood that the column structures are the principal loadcarryingpart of the wall, and by the reinforcement of these portions of the wallthe same is enabled to withstand the heaviest loads due to weight andwind pressure; and in this connection it may be pointed out that theimproved sectional construction above described may be variously adaptedfor meeting different conditions by simply speci tying column structuresof proper material and size to meet the particular requirements,together with a curtain structure correspondingly matched up to meet therequire ments of that part of the wall, which ourtain structure may beof materially lighter construction than would be required in case acolumn structure of any other form were used.

It will thus be apparent that l have devised a practical and efiicientconstruction for embodying the proposed features of improvement,although minor changes therein may be made without materially departingfrom the principle of the invention. Thus, it will be understood, thatthe arrangement of the tile blocks or sections might be at right anglesto the method of alignment shown in the drawing. in case the tie-rods 16were to be omitted, and various other alterations might be adopted tosuit different conditions of use. I therefore desire to reserve theright to make such changes or modifications as may properly fall withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a building wall, a curtain structure comprising a plurality ofblock sections, a column composed of superposed hollow-sections hayingthe interiors thereof registering and adapted to be filled with concreteto provide a substantially integral column structure, said columnsections and adjacent edge of the curtain structure being of tongue andgroove formation for interlocking engagement, and tie-rods threadedthrough said block sections and having one end of each rod in retainingengagement with one of said column sections.

2. In a building wall, a curtain structure comprising a plurality ofblock sections, a column composed of superposed hollow sec tions havingthe interiors thereof registering and adapted to be filled with concreteto provide a substantially integral column structure, an anchor platearranged vertically within said column sections, tie-rods threadedthrough said block sections and having one end of each rod extendinginto said column sections and projecting through said retaining plate,and nuts mounted on the ends of said rods in clamping engagement withsaid plate.

3. In a building wall, a curtain structure comprising a plurality ofblock sections, a pair of columns each composed of superposed hollowsections having the interiors thereof registering and adapted to befilled with concrete to provide a substantially integral columnstructure, tie-rods threaded through said block sections and having theends thereof extending into said column sec tions, and nuts mounted onthe ends of said rods for retaining engagement with the interiors ofsaid column sections.

In witness whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

DAVID W. DODSON.

